U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, went on the offensive Sunday night against critics of health care reform.

Republicans and other opponents are motivated by a political desire to see the Democratic Congress and President Barack Obama fail, she said, and they?re whipping up false claims to scare people.

?You have Republican opponents of reform who want to make sure that we are not successful as a Democratic Congress and want to make sure that President Obama is not successful because then they won?t be able to take over,? Wasserman Schultz said during a town hall meeting conducted by telephone. ?They [the Republicans] don?t like that they?re in the minority.?

Other interests? motives are easy to see, she said. ?The insurance industry make a lot of money off the status quo.?

Wasserman Schultz was particularly critical of opponents who are trying to convince seniors that Medicare would be hurt by health care overhaul ? something she said isn?t true. ?They?re at the point where they?re willing to say anything. The truth makes no difference. Their goal is to scare seniors.?

Wasserman Schultz said she understands many people are afraid of the idea of health care overhaul because they?re satisfied with their current doctors and health coverage and are uneasy with any change. She said that misses a key point. If current trends continue, health insurance will become so expensive that more and more businesses and individuals won?t be able to afford it.

The congresswoman, who announced earlier this year she?s a breast cancer survivor, mentioned it once, briefly, as part of an answer to a questioner who wanted to know about preventive care. Wasserman Schultz said she favors much more emphasis on health screenings for cancer and other illnesses.

Also on the call was one of the top players in the health care debate in Washington, Nancy-Ann DeParle, senior adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Health Reform. Calling in from Washington, D.C., she provided additional perspective to many of the callers' questions.

Wasserman Schultz answered questions from her Pembroke Pines district office.

In her introduction, and in answers to 11 questions from the 3,598 on the call, Wasserman Schultz bluntly and directly took on and dismissed critics? arguments.

To those who argue the United States has the best health care in the world, and government shouldn?t muck it up, she said the premise is wrong.

The United States ranks 29th in infant mortality and 31st in life expectancy, she said. ?Americans pay so much more and get so much less. The system has really stopped working.?

Almost all the questions were friendly and came from a pro-health care reform perspective, such as the one from Shirley in Fort Lauderdale who asked, ?Why is this bill so hard to pass? It?s a good bill.?

And Linda in Oakland Park wanted to know, ?Why should I care about the insurance companies that are making way too much money from me when they don?t care about me??

Most negative was Robert, who said the legislation would bring about ?almost mandatory rationing of care.?

Wasserman Schultz didn?t mince words in response.

?I disagree with you completely on the premise of your question. Nothing could be further from the truth,? she said. Wasserman Schultz said it?s the current system that actually causes rationing ? at the hands of insurance company bureaucrats. She said opponents are using a provision of the legislation that would help identify and encourage the best practices that produce the best outcomes, and twisting it to suggest rationing would result. ?Under our legislation there?s no rationing of care.?

Wasserman Schultz said she wants the health care overhaul plan to include the so-called public option, a government-run run insurance plan that would compete with private insurance.

That component of health reform is one of the most controversial, and has provoked lots of opposition from Republicans and others who label it as socialism.

Wasserman Schultz said a public plan would exist alongside private insurance plans ? available to those who want it and providing competition to private insurance.

?Our health care system is broken,? she said. ?The solution that we?re proposing in Congress is uniquely American.?